The North Carolina Tar Heels and Appalachian State Mountaineers meet Saturday in week 1 of college football action at Kidd Brewer Stadium. The North Carolina Tar Heels look for another win after beating Florida A&M in their opener. The Appalachian State Mountaineers are coming off a 10-win season and enter the third year under coach Shawn Clark.
The North Carolina Tar Heels have lost each of their last 4 road games. Drake Maye is completing 78.4 percent of his passes for 294 yards, 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Josh Downs and Bryson Nesbit have combined for 131 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, while John Copenhaver has 2 receptions. The North Carolina Tar Heels ground game is averaging 314 yards per contest, and Omarion Hampton leads the way with 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, North Carolina is allowing 24 points and 335 yards per game. Power Echols leads the North Carolina Tar Heels with 10 tackles, Noah Taylor has 1 sack and Storm Duck has 1 interception.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers averaged 34.5 points and 442 yards per game last season. Appalachian State allowed an average of 22.1 points and 344.1 yards per game last season. Chase Brice returns at quarterback after throwing for 3,300 yards, 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Christian Wells and Henry Pearson are a returning receiving duo that combined for 900 yards and 7 touchdowns, while Nate Noel led the Mountaineers with 1,100 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Defensively, Trey Cobb returns after 75 tackles, Nick Hampton led App State with 11 sacks and Steven Jones Jr. had 5 interceptions. Appalachian State says goodbye to the majority of last year’s receiving production and many key players on defense. However, App State still has one of the better quarterbacks not in a major conference, and Jones is one of the top corners in the entire country. There’s still a lot to work with here, and Appalachian State should probably be the favorites to win the Sun Belt this season.
The Tar Heels are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The Mountaineers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games in September and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games on fieldturf. The over is 6-2 in Tar Heels last 8 games overall. The over is 5-2 in Mountaineers last 7 non-conference games.
The North Carolina Tar Heels probably have the edge here because they got a game out of the way to get in a rhythm. The Appalachian State Mountaineers are replacing a lot of key production, even though they’re still very talented. With that said, UNC has underachieved at times and these last couple of years and had no success on the road last year. I kind of need some convincing from the Tar Heels before I can trust them in a spot like this. App State still has a proven quarterback and this program has lost just 2 home games since August 2019. Give me the Mountaineers in this pick em spot.